Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Blog Etiquette and Eating in NYC

The title of my post might have you baffled, there is no correlation between the phrases before and after "and" except of course for me both has to do with food.

I have been blogging for some time now with considerable gaps in between.In my blogging life many of the people on the right sidebar, on my archaic blogroll has fallen off the blogosphere. I still have them there,I don't update that list, it is a list of all those bloggers I had encountered early on. There is a special connection with them, no I don't know their e-mail ids or anything about them except what they cared to put on their blog but I still have them like old friends. The new ones with whom I have forged a connection are on my Reader, as I get to know more I slowly add them there.

And though I try to keep my virtual space separate from the real one, for me the same basic rules apply for both. If a friend in my real life would have been hurt I will stand up for her. If I meet people who don't mind their P's and Q's I would gently try to remind them (come on I am a Mom, that is my job).

Blog Etiquette 101 for the un-initiated. Readers are welcome to add on to this.

1. You do not plagiarize. You do not lift pictures or posts in entirety without asking. You can do excerpts with acknowledgment but sorry not the whole thing

2. You do not leave rude comments or make snide remarks regarding a blogger's posts. You can disagree, you have your full right to do so but then you do it politely

3. Everyone has a right to their opinion. Just like you have so does the blogger you are bashing. When your post is a rant/bash against another blogger's posts, do so openly and politely. Give a link to the post you are venting against, clearly voice your opinions and state why you disagree/agree. This will prevent readers from leaving snide comments and generally enjoying a controversy.

4. If your rant is not triggered by another blogger's posts and it is your own original copyrighted rant do not encourage comments which seem to suggest otherwise. That means, do not say " Thanks for understanding" and such nonsense when a reader comments "Yeah how can someone make Bitter gourd with brinjal, ridiculous"

5. Even if a blog post makes you mad, do not use bad language that might hurt the blogger's sentiment while blogging or commenting. You see only a slice of a blogger's life on the web, you have no clue as to what might have made her write/think that way. If you are still angry, take a deep breath and practice Bhujanga asana.

6. You have full freedom to bash anyone from your personal life on your blog. If they read you, god bless you my child.

Though we live in suburbia, close to NYC, we hardly go there. Both D and me being city phobic we stay away from the Big Bad Apple unless it is absolutely necessary that the city be blessed with our presence. The past weekend found us there roaming the galleries of Met and sampling some great NYC street food prepared by the city's sidewalk chefs

Biryani Cart, winner of the Vendy Award has an awesome menu. It was hard to decide what not to eat with the kind of food they had there. If you are in the area do check out this cart on 46th and 6th. And can you believe how cheap it is, the box of biryani came at $5.50 and so did the other one and the quantity is a little over sufficient for a hungry adult. Ok I ate one whole box, so what !!! There is no place where you can sit and enjoy your meal though, you can pack your lunch from here and have a nice picnic at Central Park instead.

We finally settled for some delicious Chicken Biryani and...

... a Lamb on Rice. This is an Afghani dish but at this particular cart the dish is more spicier and tasted much better than what I have had before.

Do you see that proud Vendy Award winner cert ?

Rickshaws in front of the Met. A greener, cleaner Calcutta ?

We then had Kati Rolls after just 3 hours of this at theKati Roll Company. We shared two unda chicken rolls and unda shammi kebab rolls. They were delicious and too filling. I liked the Egg Chicken Rolls better than the Shammi Kebab one. My woe of missing out on Calcutta style Rolls were assuaged by 95%.

Jeet Thayil of India in New York says that "If you have to ask what a Kati Roll is, you haven't lived." So true. But back home it is more popularly known as The Egg Roll except of course at Hot Kati on Park Street(Kolkata) whose rolls are famous as Hot Kati Rolls. I hope the Hot Kati guy knows how his naming is the food lingo in the streets of a busy city across the globe.

Important !!!

Oh, and I forgot to ask something very important. I need some help from my readers here in the US. If any of you have used the following colors for your home, please,please leave me a comment with your e-mail id. I want pictures of homes painted with any of these -- Benjamin Moore Suntan Yellow, BM Lemon Sorbet, BM August Morning, BM Patina, BM Apple Crisp and BM Asbury sand. Please, this is Urgent, search for the right color is keeping me away from the blog so please help if you can.

agei nojor ta biryani r dike gechey.. ei dupur baro tar shomoye pet kno kno korchey & i have mickey mouse chicken nuggets for lunch... so many years there, & we rarely went to the city for city phobia, tho i regret it big time now for not taking advantage of the food in the city, not even once in jackson heights!

I love, love, love going to the city and hop at it every chance I get! The sounds, the food, the shopping, the clubs, the museums, broadway, the shows at Central Park - so fun! After M's birth though, it's come down drastically. Now it's Kid Junction, Sesame Place, Chuckee Cheese's and parks and toy stores :) I'd have loved to live in Manhattan before M was born but now, am glad to be a suburban (almost rural!) mom :)

That biryani looks so good, San! Gotta try the Kati Roll place too. You painting a rainbow there San? ;)

Thanks so much for a much needed post, Sandeepa! Yeah, if only we could vent about family members without paying the consequences. Hee hee. :) I'm often wary of street food, but that biryani looks amazing! My hubby keeps telling me about kati rolls, but I've never tried one yet. You are so making me crave going to NYC and soon! :)

Sandeepa, you make me drool like anything. Since few weeks I am craving for biriyani and you talk about lamb on rice, chicken biriyani and kofta pulaos! Looks like you had a nice time there. Your blog is one I used to visit everyday since 3 years (I have checked for new possts even when you were away :) ) Even though I don't blog egularly I somehow keep in touch with people. Yours is my favorite !

I love your anecdotal style. Just recipes or food descriptions are very drab to read.

Your biriyani and roll in 3 hours trip reminded me of a work trip to Cal sometime back when I had a meeting at the Grand. Our local office head offered me lunch there after the meeting.

I ducked that and went to the phuchka guy in front of Nu York and had phuchkas. Then went to the reopened Nizam and had mutton roll and biriyani. And then went to K C das and had a blow par mishti doi!!!!

Finished the nostalgia trip by going over to Presidency almost ten years after I left college for a nostalgia trip

BTW this is the recipe of friend of mine for Cal biriyani. I was lucky to habve it once. Very authentic http://feastguru.com/index.php/20081213421/indian/mutton-biryani-recipe-calcutta-style.html

My pic got lifted recently (not by a blogger), I complained, and it was immediately addressed. But the next day, I got a rude comment on that very post, published it and told them to lighten up - haven't heard from them since and am hoping I've defused the situation wisely.

Kati roll in Greenwich Village - oh, you are making me homesick for NYC! :-) (we went to grad school near there and used to go all the time). The biryani cart must have appeared after our time, but it looks great. Thanks for the nice post.

I dont like NYC mainly coz of the crowd and traffic.Though i love the shopping bit of it:-P.I liked the blog etiquette note that u've mentioned.I havent seen the rickshaws anywhere except in NYC.I remember taking a ride at midnight after seeing the Empire state building.....then it reminded me of India.I have never tried the katti rolls...will keep this in mind and try the next time.Thanks for sharing!

I loved the sight of Rickshaws...Being outside Kolkata for over 10 years, I too share almost similar emotions about these things. But,Kathi roll is kathi roll everywhere beyond geographical boundaries of West Bengal, because of its skewers. Interestingly, in Delhi, there is a preference for kathi rolls wrapped in roomali rotis rather than in hot, greasy (yummy & lip smacking)parathas like in Kolkata.

In fact roomalis being readily available in fresh or frozen avtars, you can wrap up yummy (but healthy)kathi rolls, with fresh kakori kebabs or tikkas or sheekhs, onion rings and pudina chutney.

Sadly Babu had closed down last I heard. It was a bit upscale, with a dinner for 4 adults (that was last we went with friends) was about 150-200 I think.

Though the food was delicious and the presentation very authentic(brass thali et al), I think the price was on the higher side and the food very bengali(luchi, daab chingri everything bengali you could dream of) to please the masses. It needed a niche clientele and so inspite of great reviews, I heard it has closed down.

Dear Sandeepa, Enjoyed reading your blog commandments. Even when I read reviews in famous newspapers, I am often shocked at the lack of etiquette, usage of personal tone etc. Wish more people would start thinking along these lines!

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About Me

Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine